Knowing the spaces of creation of the children in the internet

Este artigo pretende apresentar um contato inicial com os espaços de criação das crianças na internet, trazendo observações sobre blogs, videologs e grupos de uma rede social criados por crianças. Sendo um recorte de um anteprojeto apresentado como requisito para ingresso no curso de doutorado da UERJ, este texto apresenta questões iniciais que encaminharão o desenvolvimento da pesquisa. Também apresenta alguns autores com os quais se dá o diálogo teórico-metodológico, tais como Rita Ribes Pereira, Mickhail Bakhtin, Clifford Geertz, Nilda Alves, dentre outros.This article intends to present an initial contact with the spaces of creation of the children in the internet, bringing observations about blogs, video-logs and groups of a social net created by children. Being a piece of a preliminary project presented as a requisite for the doctoral course entry of UERJ, this text presents initial questions that will submit the development of the research. It also presents some authors with whom there is a theoretical-methodological dialogue, such as Rita Ribes Pereira, Mickhail Bakhtin, Clifford Geertz, Nilda Alves, among athers

Solvatochromism as a new tool to distinguish structurally similar compounds

It is here reported a new concept based on solvatochromism to distinguish structurally similar compounds in aqueous solutions by the analysis of the stabilization of electronic excited states. The sensitivity of this approach to differentiate similar organic compounds, such as structural isomers or compound differing in the number of methylene groups, or proteins with conformational changes induced by being or not bound to cofactors, differing in two amino acids substitutions, or differing in their glycosylation profile, is demonstrated. The sensitivity of the proposed approach, based on the solvatochromic method, opens the path to its use as an auxiliary analytical tool in biomedical diagnosis/prognosis or in quality control of biologic-based drugs.publishe

Applicability of heuristic rules defining structure–ecotoxicity relationships of ionic liquids: an integrative assessment using species sensitivity distributions (SSD)

The toxicity of Ionic Liquids (ILs) to aquatic organisms has been a matter of substantial interest, involving the toxicity assessment for a small number of species, which is limitative given the variation in species sensitivity to different classes of ILs. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to validate, using an integrative approach (i.e., integrating the responses of several species), the heuristic rules that have been assumed for the ecotoxicity of ILs, namely the effects of the cation, elongation of the cation alkyl chain and anion moiety. For this purpose, four ILs were selected as models and their toxicity was determined for a wide variety of species, which allowed the development of species sensitivity distribution curves. The analysis of the distribution curves enables the determination of hazard concentrations affecting 5% of the represented communities (HC5) and also the establishment of structure-ecotoxicity relationships for ILs. The median effect concentration (EC50) values varied widely and the species most sensitive to each IL was variable. The integrative HC5 values varied by five orders of magnitude, between 3.020 × 10-3 mg L-1 representing the 1-dodecyl-3-metilimidazolium chloride, which raises concerns on the environmental hazardous potential of this IL, and 106.9 mg L-1 for cholinium chloride, which confirms its low environmental toxicity. The SSD approach showed cholinium chloride as the least toxic IL, followed by cholinium dihydrogenocitrate, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium and 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, as the most toxic. This illustrates the minor effect of the anion on toxicity for this set of ILs, whereas the cation and the cation alkyl chain length had pronounced effects, validating the heuristic rules defining structure-ecotoxicity relationships of ILs. A very strong linear correlation between hydrophobicity and HC5 was found (ρ =-0.9991). This approach allows a more efficient prediction of the potential environmental effects of ILs, thus preventing the need to comprehensively assess to the ecotoxicity of all ILs, which can be many within each family and each cation/anion possible combination. Ultimately, this will sustain the development of ILs posing less environmental hazards nonetheless retaining the desired performance.publishe

Feasibility and Acceptability of an Asthma App to Monitor Medication Adherence : Mixed Methods Study

Background: Poor medication adherence is a major challenge in asthma, and objective assessment of inhaler adherence is needed. The InspirerMundi app aims to monitor adherence while providing a positive experience through gamification and social support. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the InspirerMundi app to monitor medication adherence in adolescents and adults with persistent asthma (treated with daily inhaled medication). Methods: A 1-month mixed method multicenter observational study was conducted in 26 secondary care centers from Portugal and Spain. During an initial face-to-face visit, physicians reported patients' asthma therapeutic plan in a structured questionnaire. During the visits, patients were invited to use the app daily to register their asthma medication intakes. A scheduled intake was considered taken when patients registered the intake (inhaler, blister, or other drug formulation) by using the image-based medication detection tool. At 1 month, patients were interviewed by phone, and app satisfaction was assessed on a 1 (low) to 5 (high) scale. Patients were also asked to point out the most and least preferred app features and make suggestions for future app improvements. Results: A total of 107 patients (median 27 [P25-P75 14-40] years) were invited, 92.5% (99/107) installed the app, and 73.8% (79/107) completed the 1-month interview. Patients interacted with the app a median of 9 (P25-P75 1-24) days. At least one medication was registered in the app by 78% (77/99) of patients. A total of 53% (52/99) of participants registered all prescribed inhalers, and 34% (34/99) registered the complete asthma therapeutic plan. Median medication adherence was 75% (P25-P75 25%-90%) for inhalers and 82% (P25-P75 50%-94%) for other drug formulations. Patients were globally satisfied with the app, with 75% (59/79) scoring >= 4,; adherence monitoring, symptom monitoring, and gamification features being the most highly scored components; and the medication detection tool among the lowest scored. A total of 53% (42/79) of the patients stated that the app had motivated them to improve adherence to inhaled medication and 77% (61/79) would recommend the app to other patients. Patient feedback was reflected in 4 major themes: medication-related features (67/79, 85%), gamification and social network (33/79, 42%), symptom monitoring and physician communication (21/79, 27%), and other aspects (16/79, 20%). Conclusions: The InspirerMundi app was feasible and acceptable to monitor medication adherence in patients with asthma. Based on patient feedback and to increase the registering of medications, the therapeutic plan registration and medication detection tool were redesigned. Our results highlight the importance of patient participation to produce a patient-centered and engaging mHealth asthma app

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Clinical and genetic characteristics of late-onset Huntington's disease

Background: The frequency of late-onset Huntington's disease (>59 years) is assumed to be low and the clinical course milder. However, previous literature on late-onset disease is scarce and inconclusive. Objective: Our aim is to study clinical characteristics of late-onset compared to common-onset HD patients in a large cohort of HD patients from the Registry database. Methods: Participants with late- and common-onset (30–50 years)were compared for first clinical symptoms, disease progression, CAG repeat size and family history. Participants with a missing CAG repeat size, a repeat size of ≤35 or a UHDRS motor score of ≤5 were excluded. Results: Of 6007 eligible participants, 687 had late-onset (11.4%) and 3216 (53.5%) common-onset HD. Late-onset (n = 577) had significantly more gait and balance problems as first symptom compared to common-onset (n = 2408) (P <.001). Overall motor and cognitive performance (P <.001) were worse, however only disease motor progression was slower (coefficient, −0.58; SE 0.16; P <.001) compared to the common-onset group. Repeat size was significantly lower in the late-onset (n = 40.8; SD 1.6) compared to common-onset (n = 44.4; SD 2.8) (P <.001). Fewer late-onset patients (n = 451) had a positive family history compared to common-onset (n = 2940) (P <.001). Conclusions: Late-onset patients present more frequently with gait and balance problems as first symptom, and disease progression is not milder compared to common-onset HD patients apart from motor progression. The family history is likely to be negative, which might make diagnosing HD more difficult in this population. However, the balance and gait problems might be helpful in diagnosing HD in elderly patients